


I'll Never Be Your Beast of Burden

by Lunarium



Series: SSSS: Saga of the Mages (aka Mageverse) [15]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Kallohonka, M/M, mild humor at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 01:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10060937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: ForSynchronized Screaming's week one. My prompt was "Reynir/Lalli - “I’m not kissing you after *that*!” " This scene is set after they've moved into the Arngerðareyri but before they marry.Song title comes from The Rolling Stones's "Beast of Burden." It plays a lot at work, and I can't help but think of these two.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For [Synchronized Screaming](http://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/)'s week one. My prompt was "Reynir/Lalli - “I’m not kissing you after *that*!” " This scene is set after they've moved into the Arngerðareyri but before they marry. 
> 
> Song title comes from The Rolling Stones's "Beast of Burden." It plays a lot at work, and I can't help but think of these two.

A sheep’s mournful bleat met Reynir’s ears, and he looked up in time to see a flash of light passing over the herd of sheep grazing out in the field, but it was no enemy, but simply Lalli returning from a day of scouting about their land (old habits did die hard.) 

He made for the corpse below a singular tall tree whose presence had been a source of much distress for the sheep all day. The ram was ill, though the source of the disease was uncertain. Neither Reynir nor Lalli believed it to be the Rash Illness, though Lalli had insisted on Reynir staying as far back from the creature for his sake. Dealing with it once when their mutual friend Tuuri had been bad enough. 

Whatever illness it was, it had taken the ram’s life late last night. After a brief tour around the vicinity for any signs of immediate danger, in case a beast was around, for they lived near the fjords where sea-beasts were often a concern with the other Icelandic mages, Lalli returned and set to work. 

Reynir had wanted to dig a grave for the ram. It was the first death on the new farm, and he was not taking it well. It brought up too painful a memory of having lost sheep before on his father’s farm: lambing gone wrong where both lamb and ewe were lost, sick sheep that never made the night, or lambs that unexplainably bled to death. A burial would have been a kind gesture. 

But Lalli insisted on doing this his way. 

Reynir couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as he set the plate he had been cleaning down on the counter. He watched. 

The ram had suffered, and now Lalli’s eyes glowed blue as he sang an incantation, the tone soft and gentle, soothing the animal’s spirit. Then came the blade, but none of the sheep stirred in fright. Lalli’s words comforted even them. 

Reynir studied him silently, ready in case he was called in to help, but of course Lalli didn’t need his aid. He had done this many times before. They were often beasts, animals inflected with the Rash Illness, but this was an ordinary animal where a different disease had taken its life. It mattered not to Lalli, who was as gentle, perhaps gentler, in stripping the ram down to bones and sinew and wool. 

Reynir picked another plate up to clean, but his eyes remained on his lover. 

When Lalli was ready, he climbed up the tree with the ram’s skull worn as a cap over his head, then sat up at the top, continuing his prayer. 

The occasional bleating of the sheep came softly as if at peace and having sensed their own no longer in misery. At least Reynir wanted to think that. He certainly felt at peace watching Lalli do his magic. 

That was, until Lalli climbed back down and made his way back home. He stood in the archway of the kitchen, blood and sinew dripping down his hair, on his hands and clothes. He stood with arms slightly outstretched, watching Reynir with large grey eyes full of an odd innocence despite the intention Reynir knew was behind them. 

“Sex,” Lalli said simply. “Now, please?” 

Reynir cringed, studying a thin glop of blood trickling down a side of Lalli’s head. 

"I’m not kissing you after _that_!” Reynir said. Lalli pouted and took a step forward, prompting a short yell from Reynir. “Not in the kitchen! The animal was diseased, remember? Go wash up!” 

“But, sex…” 

“Afterwards!” Reynir shot out angrily, then quickly added in a softer tone, “I love you. But wash and rest up. I still have the rest of the dishes to do, all right? We’ll make _all the love_ you want when I’m done here.” 

Lalli stared at him for a while before finally replying, “Sex for us, from foreplay to completion, usually lasts twenty-three minutes. And we finish just once. So we make only one love.” 

“LALLI!” 

But Lalli had already left to wash. 

Reynir shook his head in amusement. _Is this what introducing you to lovemaking did to you?_

He turned back to washing the dishes but his mind kept straying back to the events that unfolded. Heat colored his cheeks, thinking of what Lalli was preparing for them. 

Well, it was going to be an interesting evening.


End file.
